News Under the Radar
More Moores wheels and deals Who will be the lucky bidder to turn the run-down, city-owned San Diego Sports Arena and dilapidated environs into a glitzy and lucrative forest of new high-rises? Judging by a …
Faulconer’s Sara Jacobs play Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who has raised millions of dollars of special interest money for his nonprofit One San Diego, has a new politically related beneficiary. Per a June 5 filing with …
Lobbyist chasers A big-money battle over who will be San Diego’s next ambulance and paramedic service has heated up with the hiring of downtown super-lobbyist Clay Company by Knoxville, Tennessee-based Priority Ambulance, per a May …
Richly Rath Phil Rath, the longtime Republican insider and close advisor to San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer, continues to clean up on the local lobbying circuit, according to his latest personal statement of economic interests, …
Lorena’s fantasy Disneyland has been closed since March 14, sending ripples of angst through the ranks of investors and tourists alike. But before the park locked its gates against the COVID-19 pandemic, a crew of …
Homeless convention When Measure C, a $5.8 billion convention center expansion and homeless relief plan to hike the tax on hotel stays, died at the polls last March, some backers vowed to challenge the public’s …
Exceptional failures UCSD, unscathed by last year’s college bribery scandal, still has had its share of problematic admissions practices, says a March 31 report by the university’s Audit & Management Advisory Services unit. “UCSD did …
Viral influence peddling The COVID-19 crisis continues to provide a cornucopia of new work for San Diego city hall lobbyists. Latest to benefit is the Intesa Communications Group, whose principals include Maddy Kilkenny, onetime aide …
Buy low, sell high The ostensibly humanitarian work of finding places for the city’s homeless legions to live during the COVID-19 onslaught may also be lining the pockets of some of San Diego’s wealthiest real …
Race for a big-bucks cure Newspaper advertising has fallen off, so billionaire Los Angeles physician Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune, is using his papers to promote a …
Faulconer’s COVID-19 bust Add San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer to the list of locals hit directly in the pocketbook by the coronavirus shutdown of San Diego’s tourist business. Last year, Restaurant Events, the convention-related food, …
Viral lobbyists Mega-developer H.G. Fenton Company became the first registered San Diego influence seeker to jump into the fray over the financial impact of coronavirus legislation. Fenton wants “new policies regarding eviction moratoriums during COVID-19,” …
Wartime messiah Ex-House Republican Darrell Issa, seeking this fall to reclaim a congressional seat in a new district, has a potent political weapon in his arsenal called the Issa Family Foundation, which he runs with …
Fake news filter Aethlon Medical Inc., a San Diego biotech star of the 2014 Ebola virus scare, is in hot water with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission over what the firm calls the Hemopurifier. …
Voluntary leave-takings The other shoe remains to fall in what local media watchers are calling the great Union-Tribune buyout of 2020. The story starts on February 20 with reports by CNN that Los Angeles Times …
Sierra Club’s top enemy Developer Newland Sierra lost the campaign for Measure B, its ballot battle against the high-end Golden Door spa over a massive residential project in North County in last week’s election. The …